Konstantin Anissimov, Executive Director at CEX.IO
BTC/USD
BTC/USD started off Thursday, 4th February, at 37,658.5. The pair rose above 38,000 in the first two hours and took a bit of a downside retracement to 37,537 between 02:00 and 04:00 UTC. From 04:00 to 06:00 UTC, BTC/USD was edging sideways and took another local upswing between 06:00 and 07:00 UTC. Thus, the pair rose from 37,671 to 38,129.
Between 07:00 and 08:00 UTC, BTC/USD pared the gains slightly and took a big up-and-down swing between 08:00 and 09:00 UTC, with the pair going from 38,800 to 37,100 as per the CEX.IO exchange rate. From 09:00 to 14:00 UTC, the pair was mainly staying between 37,260 and 37,707. A breakdown below the local support level at 37,260 happened between 14:00 and 15:00 UTC, with the hourly candlestick closing at 36,801.
Another bearish candlestick of a smaller size took place between 15:00 and 16:00 UTC, closing below the 50-period hourly SMA. However the breakdown below it did not trigger further sell-off. The price rebounded in the next hour to 37,017 and continued rising until 20:00 UTC, coming to 37,486.
The BTC/USD seems to have met support at 37,715 and slightly pared the recent gains. There was some indecision in the market as no one-direction consensus was achieved, with the pair going up and down during the day. Therefore, a little more time will be needed this week to see whether the price breaches through the local resistance and tries to reach 42,000 or turns down to try to reach the 31,000 support level. The local support level at 34,967 is acting as support and will be key one to breach on the way to 31,000.
Presently, the situation is slightly rather unclear and the trading session of 5th February could give a clearer understanding of what price target will be the next one for BTC/USD.
ETH/USD
For ETH/USD the trading session of 4th February began at 1,670; the day’s high as well as a new all-time high was achieved in the day’s first two hours when the pair rose to 1,697 as per the CEX.IO exchange rate. The pair then edged down below the level of the close between 02:00 and 04:00 UTC. In the next two hours of little action, the pair did not see much price change and took a slight spike worth $23.25 to 1,679 between 06:00 and 07:00 UTC.
Starting from 07:00 UTC, the pair was edging down consistently until it reached 1,556.1 between 15:00 and 16:00 UTC. The pair was supported in that hour by the 50-period hourly SMA and closed the hour above it at 1,585. The buying pressure continued to dominate in BTC/USD in the next four hours. The biggest spike happened between 16:00 and 17:00 UTC when the pair reached 1,631, only making it to 1,658.9 between 17:00 and 20:00 UTC.
ETH/USD continues its confident bullish price action, setting sequential all-time highs. This extraordinary ETH/USD price growth is happening alongside the tumultuous outbreak of the entire DeFi market that has never stopped since the beginning of 2021. Apparently, this is no coincidence since 96% of all DeFi transaction volume has taken place on Ethereum’s blockchain. On top of that, over $10 billion worth of DeFi liquidity is stored in Ethereum’s smart contracts.
Therefore, we can reasonably assume that the ongoing DeFi outbreak is acting in Ethereum’s favour as well. And it should be taken as another defining factor for ETH/USD price action in the near future at the least. At present, we expect the ETH/USD price to continue setting new all-time highs in the week of 1st February, which could soon take the ETH/USD price rate to 1,800.
